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Northwestern Elements

Northwestern Elements is web-based warehouse of information about scholarly products.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much time is needed after updating publications in Northwestern Elements for changes to be visible on Feinberg Faculty Profile or in the Feinberg Faculty Portal (powered by Interfolio)?

Publication updates made in Elements before 11 pm are reflected on the Feinberg Faculty Profiles the next morning after 7 am. The Feinberg Faculty Portal (powered by Interfolio) supports a weekly load (usually on Monday afternoon) of publications data from Elements. If you are having issues with Elements, please contact ghsl-ref@northwestern.edu or your liaison librarian for help.

 

How does Northwestern Elements work with Feinberg Faculty Profiles and the Feinberg Faculty Portal ?

To help faculty maintain an accurate, current publication list and reduce the burden of data entry, Feinberg imports publication data from Northwestern Elements, a database overseen by the Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center, to display on key websites and systems of the school:
   

Feinberg Faculty Profiles

  • Publications are imported daily from Northwestern Elements
  • Publication types imported are:
    • Journal articles
    • Books
    • Chapters
  • Manual entry of additional publication types into the Feinberg Faculty Profiles is not possible; the profile only displays the three publication types imported from Northwestern Elements 

Feinberg Faculty Portal

  • Publications are imported weekly from Northwestern Elements
  • Publication types imported are:
    • Journal articles
    • Books
    • Chapters
    • Conference Proceedings
  • Another 10 publication types can be manually entered directly in the Faculty Portal so that you can produce a more comprehensive CV 

For more information, see here: https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/fao/for-faculty/online-presence/publications.html

 

I have a well-curated Google Scholar profile. Can I just import my publications into Elements?

Yes. You can export your Google Scholar publications into a BibTex formatted bibliography and then import this file into Elements. For detailed instructions, please see the Importing Items in Bulk help document.

 

Why do I have such a high number of Pending publications?

This is an indication that your search settings are not optimal. This can happen if you have a common last name, or particularly if a researcher in the field of High Energy Physics shares your name (due to the large number of authors on HEP papers and the likelihood of a Northwestern affiliation on those publications). To optimize your search parameters, see the Optimizing Search Settings document or contact ghsl-ref@northwestern.edu for help.

 

Why is Elements not finding a lot of my publications?

This could be an indication that your search parameters are too narrow.  To optimize your search parameters, see the Optimizing Search Settings document or contact ghsl-ref@northwestern.edu for help. If your search settings are already broad, and Elements still isn’t finding publications, it may be that your publications are not indexed in the databases searched by Elements.  Elements routinely searches Scopus, Web of Science, and CrossRef.  Depending on your College or Department settings it may also search arXiv, PubMed, RePEc or other sources. Contact ghsl-ref@northwestern.edu for help adding databases to your search. You can also add items individually that aren’t being found. See the documents Add individual items from a database and Add a Book or Chapter for more information.

 

Who can currently see my Elements profile?

Profiles can be viewed by any other user in the Northwestern Elements system. Your Elements profile can only be edited by you and people with administrative access. The latter may include Galter librarians and technical staff who work with the Elements system, Elements technical staff, and department and college administrators who have been granted access to view college and department profiles.

 

How can I import an individual publication from a database like Web of Science to Elements?

To import individual items from databases, please see the Add individual items from a database document.


For assistance contact Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center ● Email: ghsl-ref@northwestern.edu
Adapted with permission from Carnegie Mellon University Libraries and CU Boulder Elements, Office of Faculty Affairs